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Topic: A Fast Exit (Read 132364 times)

Autumn turned and growled softly at Jerome, flipping the weapon about to pass it towards Yulo grip first with the safety securely in the on setting. "Don't presume to give me orders unless you pay my fees or hold the rank of captain." She turned and gestured towards the door with her paw in an almost dismissive fashion. "I have some medical training, so it is you that will be getting the @!#$ out. Besdies," She added, almost as an after thought as she turned back to assist Helia, "You should be more concerned with how this person sneaked on board mister security man."

Jerome grinned, "I heard the medic, and I didn't leave. That should say something as well. Where the safety of the ship or its crew is concerned, you d**n well better listen - unless he says otherwise. I believe the captain had made that clear before."

As much as he hated to think it, Autumn did have a point. As soon as this 'situation' cooled down, he would check the ship over for any other unexpected guests. He had assumed the Captain had done so before boarding, but if he had, it had not been a through enough job.

In any case, with these loose cannons, he was not leaving the medical bay until things calmed down. Seriously, playing with a firearm aboard a ship?

"Boys, girls, or whatever you are, calm down! We - or rather, the Prize - subdued this little infiltrator" Yulo attempted to defuse the situation. "Watch her, and once she's communicative, interrogate until you're content with the answers she's giving. I'll be on the bridge, awaiting your tidings. Jarvis, grab a scanner and scan the ship. If as much as a cockroach escapes you, you'll be on cleaning duty."

Jarvis eyed him with utter confusion - given his appearance, he was quite obviously unaware of the meaning of the words clean and cleaning. Alas, it had to be something unpleasant, that much he knew. Fumbling through his overalls, he produced a short range bioscanner, and pointed it at the captive. It beeped. "Found her" he muttered, then he tried again. Beep. "Still there..."Mumbling, the techie strolled off, poking the scanner into each corner. Given his pace, he'd be done in a year or two.

***

Helia - Sunny, dammit! - overcame her hesitation, and put the vecuronium back into the medikit. Instead, she dosed the captive with painkiller, then sat behind her head and placed her sensitive head-tendrils on Minerva's brow. The girl jerked at the strange touch. "Don't worry, I will not suck out your brain. Yet."She nodded to Jerome and Autumn. "Ask away, I never was any good at interrogating."

« Last Edit: May 07, 2012, 11:16:30 AM by EchoMirage »

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"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

Autumn nodded at the captains orders, taking a half step closer to Jerome and speaking softly. "For clarity's sake, two points of import, one, the weapon is un-chambered so no amount of my flicking the safety will make any difference, two, you can trust I will listen without hesitation in regards to matters of security, and expect you to do the same when I speak in regards to mechanical ones." She paused to take a breath, hoping her overture of peace would be understood well enough by the man.

"Since this interloper is technically a matter of ship security, I will defer to your discretion on how to proceed with the interrogation, although I would suggest starting with simple questions and a measure of restraint, if not compassion." She peered at the injured woman once more, tilting her head sideways and wondering silently what secrets she held. "Personally, she looks to be drifter, likely one of the former crews companions, or a dock worker that slipped away for a nap after loading supplies for our journey and missed the departure alarm."

"Additionally why are you fleeing him, and does he have friends who are assisting him in tracking you down?" Autumn sighed quietly, hoping the young girl wasn't a runaway from some expensive boarding school, the last thing they needed were allegations of kidnapping.

"He's the son of a rich intergalactic merchant, and a previous lover of mine who can't accept that things are over.

Him and his rich friends have been trying to literally hunt me down. The authorities won't help, he takes full advantage of his fathers contacts.

I don't know if he is still following me. I know he managed to follow me to this station. When I saw a packing job advertised for this ship I helped and took the chance. I saw no real security. So I decided I'd take my chances with her crew."

"Well, that's an interesting way to get your foot in the door. There's security - now.

After we check your things - and your person", Jerome nodded to the nurse, " you can give us the full details of him, his friends and anything else you know about him so we know what we may be up against. And then we will see the captain, and see if if accepts your job application.

If he doesn't, then I'm afraid you won't see much outside of your room until we have somewhere to drop you off."

Nodding to the medic again, "I'll step outside while you finish checking her out. Buzz me when she's ready please."

Minerva felt as if something was ... licking? ... her mind, but in a good way. She felt the doctor's worry, deep yet restrained.

"She's too scared to actually lie, her vitals and EEG tell as much. So, we have a runner on our hands, one with a dangerous predator."'Sunny' hated rich men. They always wanted to be ever richer.Quod Romanos satis est? had been uttered millennia ago, yet each age produced a new crop of Romans... and not the good kind. Her home had suffered at the hands of men such as these.

Sadly, if they catch me, they'll get that much richer.

"We can drop her off at some backwater planet that's not part of our routine, and claim we tossed her out of the airlock, into the grim freezing darkness of space, if the bastards catch up and ask."

« Last Edit: May 07, 2012, 12:03:03 PM by EchoMirage »

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"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

"Rich men often dislike hearing their toys have been broken by others," Autumn cautioned, leaning against the counter and running her claws through her fur. "It may be better to claim ignorance of her presence entirely. More importantly do we have quarter accommodations for another passenger, or will she be bunking with one of us?"

The doctor fished out an obviously high-tech alloy ring with a computer link-up out of her luggage, which she placed around the head of the infirmary table; the device floated in mid-air.

"Before I allow her out of here at all, I'll have to find out whether she could be dangerous - as an assailant or contaminant."Listen to yourself, Sunny Greene. Military life is not becoming to a doctor. Is this a lege artis approach? No, it is not.It's approved by Darwin, though.Schizophrenia already, my dear?

"Breathe in, child. Hold your breath."Sunny hit 'enter', and the ring floated down the restrained girl's body, head to toe and back.

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"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

"Aside from some evidence of violence on your bones, you are in good shape, nothing out of the ordinary... wait, hold it."The doctor readjusted a few settings on the medical imager. "Either there's shrapnel in you, or you have an implanted device, likely a tracer or espionage tool of some kind. Dos it hurt when I prod you... here?"

The medic pushed her finger against the spot where an implant was hidden.

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"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

"Depending on the location it could be a compliance device, designed to explode or inflict pain should the owner fail to comply to previously given orders." She shrugged gesturing to the tray of operating instruments, "No matte, Helia can remove it easily enough either way."

"I have been giving you the benefit of the doubt to this point. I can abide many things, but not lies. So, before i have to have you treated as unexploded ordinance during the operation, do you have any other explainations you wish to provide? I am not going to ask again."

"You should run a second or third scan Helia, just in case she's got more shrapnel you missed the first time around, we wouldn't want any of it be jarred loose from the accident and work their way into a vital organ somehow." Autumn gave the doc a predatory smile, her choice of words the closest she would come to humor given the circumstances.

Leaning in closer she growled softly into Minerva's ear, her voice still holding that subtle animal warmth her mother used to use when chastising her as pup. "Honesty here will serve you far better then deception; and much more likely to convince the captain to accept you as a member of the crew rather then unwanted baggage. Besides, you'd rather spend your journey in a nice comfortable bunk than chained to a vivisection table wouldn't you? Tell the truth and I'll make sure none of the others harm you, on my word of honor."

It wasn't much, but hopefully her offer would loosen the girls tongue, before Helia's exploratory surgery did so.

Quan rolled his eyes, a human gesture he'd picked up over the years. He'd not seen stowaways since his smuggling days, rare as they were on corporate ships; they guarded their cargo with automated systems that zapped you with a couple kilovolts, or worse. Far as he was concerned, that was the best way to deal with them.

"Hey Jarvy," he called out from the helm as the man sulkily went about his janitorial task. "Best keep an eye on that freeloader. You never really can tell with those people, sneaking away in cargo holds and whatnot. Could be a bomb waitin' to go off."

His piece about the stowaway said, Quan focused on the asteroids ahead. He clicked the comm on. "I'mma put the Prize through her rounds with these asteroids," he said over the loudspeaker, not bothering with a formal address of the crew. "Just a quick path around some of the bigger rocks. Won't be a big thing, just giving you a heads up." Watching the instruments in his peripheral vision, Quan eased the thruster forward and brought the ship around toward a few of the slower-moving hunks, feeling the vessel maneuver by his hand. "Easy girl," he said affectionately. "Nice and steady."

"What, bomb? Where is the bomb? Are you sure it's only one bomb? Why am I scanning for bombs with a bioscanner?" Jarvis nearly yelled at the comm - but Quan was already busy with testing how the Prize handled. As far as cargo ships go, she was a nimble vixen - the inertial damper was also above the usual cargo ship level. An usual heavy freighter could pull a hundred G without turning his crew to paste, a small cargo ship two hundred; the Hollen's prize could manage to compensate 350; still less than a military dreadnought at 390 or a light attack craft at 800 or above.In the Fringe, it paid off to be a little nimbler than the opposition.

The rocks soared past, their grim ice-covered countenances forbidding and hostile. Indeed, given their speed at the moment, they were but a fleeting blip on their radar. Yulo nodded to Quan - pulling of any maneuver at that speed, especially passing between asteroids, was no mean task.

The Prize flew on, the asteroids remained. Had they a drive, they might have given chase. As it was, they were left to brood in darkness.

***

The doctor prepared a local anesthetic and a scalpel. "Any time the lady is ready?"She felt for the kid, but couldn't ignore the risk.It might be something stupid, given the location on the thigh. A data chip for cheating at school, transdermally accessible. A pleasure chip for the extra 'oomph' in intimate moments. A data storage with private photos. But it might be a tracer that would give them all away to whoever placed it there, or a viral capsule to spread plague at the push of a button."Jerome?"

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"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

Not wanting to increase hostilities between herself and the crew Minerva thought it best to let them know about the "shrapnel" in her thigh.

She took a deep breath before continuing, now that the painkiller had settled in the pain she felt in her back had subsided somewhat, allowing her to think clearly and focus.

"The object in my thigh, it's a memory device. It has nothing to do with any of you and is in no way harmful to any of you. I have some data on there that I wish to keep secure, after all the last place someone would think to search me is inside of my body. My I.D. card won't show it because I had it implanted by a close friend of mine, a student of medicine at our Academy"

Pausing to regain her breath, she looked up at the crewmembers surrounding her before continuing.

"I'd much prefer it if I wasn't strapped to this table for the remainder of the journey until I'm tossed out at some port in the middle of nowhere. If I may, perhaps I can be of some use to you. In return for safe passage on your ship?"

She took a hopeful glance at Autumn, the hyena like crewmember had showed less hostility towards her, instead calming her and taking the edge off of her fears.

"Like I'd mentioned earlier I am, or was, a student of Intergalactic History. While that probably won't be useful here on board a ship, I did pick up other skills. I can work with most computing systems, I can read charts, navigate. As far as technology goes I'm well informed, I do have a few other computing.. Erm.. Proficencies that may be of some use."